Chapter 1: So you want to coach an undead team?

Ah, I see you all are budding necromancers, fresh off the cemeteries with your degree
in necromantic magic and you are chomping at the bit to raise the fallen remains of some
players and think you're going to rise to the top of your chosen league without a sweat.

It's not going to be that easy.

The best thing a necromancer can do when checking out the league in his areas is find
the rules of regeneration and what the team can and cannot get. Some leagues use the rule
of JJ, where access to necromantic magic is high, and your players will regenerate fairly
easily (on a 2+) other regions may find it tougher, where the flow of magic is harder to
reach. (3+ or 4+) Also, some leagues allow a Necromancer to hire a Necromancer's Adept to
work as an apocathery. Do your homework before you troop to the graveyard. The rules will
dictate your choices.

Here are some of the positives and negatives about Undead teams (using vanilla rules)

Positive:

Strongest Non-Big Guy around

Cheap Linemen

Decent Specialists (Wights and Block, Ghouls and Dodge)

Regenerate

Negative:

AV 7 Skeletons and Ghouls

Slower then just about everybody

Ghouls can't regenerate

70k ReRolls

NO Apocathery

Chapter 2: That ol' Black Magic: Summoning your first squad

This team was built assuming the vanilla rules in Blood Bowl and Death Zone (2+ Regen,
no Adept, no allies) this would also fit better (with a bit more worry) on 3+ or 4+ regen.

With 14 players to start, you can outlast the other team if it turns into a foul war,
you're not going to be scoring much, a lot of 1-0, 1-1,2-1 games, but your opponents will
fear you. You have more players then he does and since your players regenerate, he can't
get into a foul war because he only has the one apocathery.

With allies, you may wish to dump a zombie and a skeleton and 10k of FF and snag a Dark
Elf Linemen to be your ball handler.

Use your mummies as brute forces. Drive downfield slowly, using the mummies to take out
any opponents foolish enough to get near them. The Ghoul and the Wights are your flankers
(their dodge and block will help them stay up respectively) and provide the scoring power
you need. Take as much time as you can when you are on offense, using your Skeletons and
Zombies as walking assists, or as foulers on downed opponents.

Some may think to use your mummies as foulers, because of their Mighty Blow. DON'T fall
for it. Your mummies are TOO important as blockers and targets of your opponents wrath to
risk wasting on a double. Of course if you have "Bribe the Ref" or "Biased
Ref" or your fans get the ref, go ahead.

I can't stress this next point too highly for Undead teams. DO NOT TRY TO PLAY AN ELF
TYPE GAME. Don't try for 2 turn scores unless you absolutely positively HAVE to. The
Undead team is the kind that can let the opponent do that, but that leaves 6 turns for you
to grind him, knocking three or four or even more people out or injured. Same thing if you
get the kickoff, grind, then score on turn 8. Sure he can one or two turn you to open the
2nd half.. but he still has to kick off to you again, and you just repeat against what
probably would be a weakened team.

As the teams get higher and higher, you will start to face teams with wizards. All you
can do is spread your team out so he can't fireball you and have enough players around to
keep the ball in your hands if/when he Lightning Bolts your ball carrier. This means you
will have to score a turn earlier then normal.

Chapter 3: Raising your spirits: The Mid-Range teams

I consider a mid range team to be from around 130 to probably 200. This is where you
fill your needs at other positions. This is where you get even MORE hitting power and
maybe fill in your limits at other positions, getting rid of a couple cheap players
instead.

In the PBBL on-line league, here is what undead were allowed to ally with and my
thoughts:

0-3 Chaos Beastmen: Eh.. decent but you already have a bunch of ST 3 guys, take a pass
here

0-3 Dark Elf Linemen: Dark Elves successfully negate a huge disadvantage of undead
teams. Their AG of 4 lets them move the ball upfield and actually pick it up/catch it. Buy
one or two, but a reminder. If you don't have a Necromancer's adept, you're not going to
be able to apoc any injuries they suffer. Use with caution

0-2 Minotaurs: Oh boy, 2 more ST 5 players for you to add to your front line! :) If
you're making a real smashing crunching team, these guys should be on your MUST-BUY list.
Not many teams besides Big Guy teams will be able to stand up to 4 ST 5 players on the
line! [Note: Minotaurs have since been removed from the Undead ally list]

0-2 Vampires: Maybe it's just me, but while Hypno Gaze, Regen, ST 4 and AG 4 are all
good together, I think that you should take a pass on these guys. OFAB is a very hard
skill to get rid of, and you need all the players you can get on the field.

Skill Choices:

Mummies

First get Block, they need it :)

Second of all, if you know you can either take the foul that this will result in, or can
protect them, get Piling On. That's a just about guaranteed armor break at armor 8, and
you can still add your Mighty Blow to the injury roll.

Third Skill: Stand Firm or Guard Stand Firm lets you stay next to your opponents (which
means you get to HIT THEM BACK) and Guard gives bonuses that your Skellies and Zombies
will need

On Doubles: JUMP UP. A Piling On/Jump Up Mummy is one of the scariest things an
opposing coach will have to face. Other good choices include Dodge (to stay up longer) or
Break Tackle (2+ dodges :))

Retire on: -ST or -MA injuries, +AG rolls, and most of the time on Niggles

Wights

These guys are pretty decent, but having General access only hurts.

Frenzy - Good to knock your opponents wing men off the pitch to set up for your cage.

Pro - Get this to generally re-roll failed efforts. (With Skeletons and Zombies on your
roster, you might not have a team RR available)

On Doubles: Dodge (to stay up except on Pows) and Mighty Blow (if you don't have minos
you need more hitting power)

Retire on: -ST Injuries or Niggle

Ghouls

Side Step - No apoc means you need to keep your Ghouls away from the sidelines, and it's
auto inj roll. use this to avoid those nasty frenziers

Block - Once again, staying up and not on the ground where you can be fouled is a
priority

Skeletons/Zombies

This is where you specialize - get a couple with oddball skills (kick, Leader) and a
couple of DP's to hammer your opponent. The others probably won't get enough SPP to
get more then one or two skills before you have other players take their place, but block
and the like are always useful.

Chapter 4: A Case Study - The Un-washed-ington Deadskins

This team has been mildly to moderately successful, no titles, but have earned a
reputation as one of the most feared teams in the league and a team to watch in Chaos Cup
98 action in the PBBL

This is a good example of a hitting team. They have 4 ST 5 hitters, all with Mighty
Blow... (2 mummies, one of the minos and Frank).. all with Mighty Blow, and a single ST 6
Mino (without WA) and once they go down (via the hitters) El Kabong can finish them off..
although not many people can avoid being at least stunned with +5/+1 Piling On, and El
Kabong is a good deterrent if they decide to foul my downed mummies (although I keep my
Mummies together, so usually if they go after one, my other one will smack the DP/Pro. To
protect his guy, he has to commit many of his guys, leading to an imbalance I can exploit

What's in the future for the Deadskins? Well, if they can get a couple more games in
before tourney time, I want to add more rerolls, and maybe a Dark Elf or two to help pick
up the ball (although my ghoul does nicely with that already.

Last updated 04/12/2001
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